


A History of Palaven

by VigilantSycamore



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Culture, Gen, Medieval Palaven, Rating May Change, Turian History, Warnings May Change, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 11:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13099224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigilantSycamore/pseuds/VigilantSycamore
Summary: Ever wondered how the Turian Hierarchy came about? Well, this could be the answer: the story of how a small turian city-state rose to power and became a world-spanning empire.It's going to be better than I make it sound.





	1. An Introduction to the Guild Crisis

**An Introduction to the Guild Crisis**

The Guild Crisis, which occurred in the city of Kpreti 7 years _ashto-trabvas_   (‘ _before the coronation_ ’, a-t)  was the result of a political and economic dispute over taxation of trade and businesses. The Office of Finance voted to increase taxes on imports and on artisans; this was supported by the Grand Treasury and the Bank of the Republic, but opposed by the Guilds’ Union. The result of the crisis was that the power of the Treasury and the Bank was decreased, the Guilds’ power was increased, and the artisan tax plan was abandoned in favour of the populist faction’s plan to raise taxes on the nobility instead.

_**Context to the Crisis** _

Academic consensus is that the Guild Crisis was caused primarily by the First Hara’et Crusade: a war waged by the Lawful Mbetsi Empire, of which the Republic of Kpreti was an autonomous province, from 23 to 9 years a-t against the nations of Tshibalr and Irnin to annex the land of Hara’et, because Hara’et was home to the Mbetsi people who the Imperial Family claimed descent from.

The crusade eventually succeeded through sheer attrition, but the cost of the crusade was high. To restore financial balance, the Empress increased the tribute that autonomous provinces paid to the Empire. Or, more accurately, the tribute that _small_ autonomous provinces paid to the Empire - the _Xatlapf_ province and other provinces owned by the _Xatlapf_ dynasty would have used their Senate votes to shoot the motion down otherwise.

Under this new law, the Republic of Kpreti found itself in need of money. The tribute was higher than they could afford, and if they failed to pay the tribute by the end of the year, the Empire would resort to military force to seize the Republic’s lands, which was anathema both to the populists who fiercely defended the Republic’s autonomy and to the statists who didn’t want to give up the lands they owned.

The result was a bill drafted by statist members of the Office of Finance which aimed to prevent a financial crisis by raising the tax on imports into the Republic as well as on artisans and their craft. This was hated by the populists, but there weren’t enough populist Officials to stop the motion from going through. The result was public and academic outcry, eventually culminating in the majority of the Guilds refusing to work until the artisan tax was dropped - the first documented workers’ strike in Kpreti’s history. The other result of the bill was the beginning of an intense debate over censorship as the statist members of the Office of Academia and the Office of the Arts both voted to censor criticisms of the tax plan.

However, scholars also concur that the outcry against the statist tax plan owed its escalation to the level of a crisis to Vendharxa Khalsatfir, who at the time was merely a populist member of the Office of Finances, but whose rise to power began with her role in the Guild Crisis.


	2. The Early Life of Vendharxa Khalsatfir

The Khalsatfir family began as traders in the Vahen region of the Tarlngje Peninsula, south of the Lawful Mbetsi Empire. The family grew wealthy by taking advantage of the region’s reserves of bluesalt, which were first discovered by copper miners. Bluesalt - also known as copper sulfate - was extremely valuable at the time, as an ornament, a recreational drug, and a vomit-inducing potion used by physicians and the wealthy, though for different purposes (the substance’s toxicity would not be documented until decades later).

The Khalsatfiru grew rich and became a trade superpower in the southern peninsula. Members of the family came to power in various duchies in the Vahen, these duchies becoming collectively known as the Throne of the Khalsatfir. Members of the family also settled in the Mbetsi Empire, gaining influence in various provinces and eventually even becoming the provincial dynasty in two: _Ergantl_ , a city-state on the southern coast that controlled trade with the _Fjadlan Klisopa_ , and _Rhige’ehta_ , a northern coastal province.

What those two provinces had in common was that they were plutocracies: all the Khalsatfir family needed to do to gain power there was accumulate sufficient wealth. The Republic of Kpreti also had a member of the Khalsatfir in its midst, but to gain control of this province she would need political skill more than the family fortune. That member was Vendharxa Khalsatfir.

***

Vendharxa Khalsatfir was born to the Vahen branch of the family, but she was fostered by Rinne Hjietshuf from the age of three. Fostering agreements - common between wealthy families at the time - meant that a child from one family would be raised by the other, learning valuable skills; in return, the foster family would receive regular payments from the birth family until the child came of age at fifteen.

The Hjietshuf family were academics in the City of Kpreti. Unfortunately, a predominantly Tarl city held numerous prejudices against the Vahen people, so Vendharxa had to integrate herself into the local society. Once she understood this, she committed herself wholeheartedly to the task: Vendharxa became an expert in Kpreti’s history, laws, customs, culture, religions and martial arts.

Rinne Hjietshuf formed a dyad with Vatlang Besvala. The two _zhuvranne_ adopted Irind Bessvala, Vatlang’s second cousin once removed, and raised him and Vendharxa as siblings. Irind, two years Vendharxa’s senior, joined the militia once he turned fifteen as this was expected of _khodvranne_ in Kpreti at the time.

***

At the age of fifteen, Vendharxa returned to the Vahen and spent a year as the apprentice of her aunt, Illse’i Khalsatfir, who was the matriarch of the family at the time and controlled the Duchy of Khalsat itself. Under the tutelage of Illse’i, Vendharxa learnt much about economics and politics, as well as tactics and strategy. These were the skills that allowed Vendharxa to achieve her political successes in later years.

When she turned sixteen, Vendharxa chose to return to Kpreti to study at the Academy of the Republic. It was here that Vendharxa’s political views were shaped: the statist faction, and the Priesthood, both had considerable influence over the Academy and the result was censorship of unorthodox documents and ideas. Frustrated with this, Vendharxa joined the Society of the Quill, a secret group of teachers, students and former students whose political and religious ideas were deemed too radical for the academy. Vendharxa may have joined the Society out of curiosity, but she soon found herself agreeing with the ideas being discussed, as transcripts of the Society’s meetings show.

***

Vendharxa completed her studies at the Academy when she was twenty years old. Though she excelled in history and philosophy, she showed the most potential in politics, so she was encouraged to seek employment at one of the Offices, the main body of government in Kpreti at the time. This is believed by historians to have been a deliberate manoeuvre on Vendharxa’s parts: transcripts of Society meetings frequently show Vendharxa being vocal about her displeasure at the political situation at the time, particularly censorship. It is therefore no surprise that after leaving the Academy she began her political career with an apprenticeship at the Office of Finances.

This was only the beginning of her political career. With the business skills she learnt from her aunt, Vendharxa excelled at her tasks as an apprentice enough to be noticed. She was encouraged to participate in _eklinse_ , a training exercise for potential recruits which mimicked Office debates. This, Vendharxa also excelled at, thanks to her foster family teacher her how to integrate into Kpretingje society, and to the debating skills she acquired at the Academy.

After two years of apprenticeship, Vendharxa Khalsatfir was put forward as an Office candidate by the Electoral Commission. The Commission allowed her to run for election for a seat in the Office of Finances. Contrary to what is known of her politics, Vendharxa aligned herself with the statists, but this played to her advantage: statist sentiment was still high, particularly in the upper levels of Kpreti; combined with her charisma and rhetoric, this sealed the victory for her.

In her third year as an Official of Finances, Vendharxa joined a coalition of other Officials of Finance, as well as Officials of Academia, Officials of the Arts, and First Court Judges in investigating bribery between politicians. When, after two years, the investigation ended and it was revealed that several prominent statists were indeed giving and taking bribes, particularly before and after elections, the result was a popular outcry against statists. Vendharxa herself issued the statist faction an ultimatum: either they clean up their act or Vendharxa switches sides and takes several other young Officials with her, as well as the public’s support.

The statists did not accept this: instead they framed and ousted many of the Officials who would have supported Vendharxa, pretending to care about restoring justice. They also attempted to frame Vendharxa herself, but she managed to defeat the charges and walked away with her freedom and a reason to join the populist faction, taking the remaining young statists with her, as well as the public’s support. Meanwhile, the statist faction found that they had gutted themselves.

Two years later, the Guild Crisis begun and Vendharxa entered the limelight once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on Pronunciation (for this chapter and later ones):  
> When a stop consonant - like "k" or "d" - is followed by "h," that means the stop consonant is aspirated.  
> When it comes to rhotic consonants, "r" is trilled, "rl" is an approximant, and "rh" is a flap consonant (it sounds similar to a trill, but quicker).  
> Sonorants are "s", "z", "sf", "zv" (these two sound lisped, like the Catalan pronunciation of "Ibiza"), "sj", "zj" (palatal sonorants), "sh", and "zh". They also form affricates: "ts", "dz", and so on.  
> The "kp" in "Kpreti" is a single consonant: it's a velarized bilabial stop - articulated by bringing the tongue up to the soft palate but also closing and releasing the lips.  
> "Tl" is also a single consonant, as in Nahuatl.  
> "J" doesn't make a "juh" sound as in English, but rather a "yuh" sound, as in various Slavic languages.  
> There are various nasal consonants: "nj" is palatal, "ng" is velar, and "nn" is retroflex.  
> Apostrophes tend to signify a glottal stop, like in "Hawai'i"  
> "X" is pronounced like the Scottish "ch", as in "loch".  
> Turian lip-plates aren't nearly as flexible as human lips, but they can still articulate something pretty close to the labial consonants we use.  
> Lastly, when differentiating between a compound consonant like "tl" and a consonant cluster with the same components, the second consonant is doubled. So "ts" is an affricate that sounds like the Polish "c", but "tss" is just "t" followed by "s". And yes, this can lead to stuff like "tshsh". It was this or constantly using IPA.


	3. The Opening Debate

An Official of Finance, like any other Official of the Republic, wore a simplistic uniform: a black _tshelisf_ (a leather upper garment with narrow sleeves, sparingly used buttons, and secured lapels around the neck), a copper coloured cotton sash tied tightly around the waist, a blue leather _rhizhen_ (a type of trousers with a slit down the back of the lower leg for the turian’s spur), black boots with a pointed toe, and a copper coloured sash tied around the leg to bind the spur.

The uniform was the same in every Office of the Republic, but the colours were different in each one. The colours of the Office of Finance all represented wealth: blue for bluesalt, copper for coinage, and black for slate. All members of the Office of Finance were dressed this way, with only one exception: the Presiding Official, whose duty it is to begin and end the meeting, to take attendance, to list the issues to be discussed, and to rebuke Officials who speak or act out of turn. In every Office, the Presiding Official wore the same grey and white uniform. The Presiding Official of Finance at this time was Gilizh Edhero.

When the Office of Finance was full, Gilizh Edhero began to take attendance. The names were spoken, in order of seniority, and the member, if present, responded, “Aye.” All members were present. The next step in the proceedings was to recite the Oath of the Republic. Gilizh raised her leading hand to her chest, index talon over the heart, and the other Officials followed suit. All seven dozen spoke in unison:

“We swear to ensure and enforce the welfare of the people, as is our duty; to uphold the right to prosperity, as is our duty; to defend the autonomy of the Republic, as is our duty; to act in accordance with honour, as is our duty. We swear to do this, our duty to the Republic of Kpreti, on pain of exile if we break our oath.”

Then they stayed silent for five heartbeats.

Gilizh lowered her left hand again, and the other Officials did the same with their own leading hands. She took her seat behind the podium in the centre of the hall, and the Officials took their own seats on the stands. Gilizh took a leather-bound scroll from her sash and unrolled it on the podium. This was the scroll with the issues to be discussed at this day’s meeting, and the Officials leading each faction’s arguments for the issues.

“The issues to discuss today are as follows:” Gilizh proclaimed, “the trade agreement with the Xatlapf province; the tax plan to pay the Imperial tribute; and the budget for maintaining government properties. Presenting the arguments for the statist faction is Ulvonn Vinsarl. Presenting the arguments for the populist faction is Vendharxa Khalsatfir. Presenting Officials, you may approach the stage.”

At this cue, both of the Officials Gilizh had mentioned stood up and walked down the stands and towards the stage - the flat, raised platform with the podium in the centre. They each took a step onto the stage and approached each other, stopping when they stood face to face on either side of the podium: Vendharxa on the left, Ulvonn on the right.

Vendharxa took her _ikpfarhng_ \- the ceremonial dagger at her sash - out of its sheath and laid it on the podium, embroidered hilt pointing towards Ulvonn. This gesture was part of tradition: offering one’s dagger to their opponent dated back to the days when disputes were settled with duels rather than trials, when offering them your own weapon showed your confidence in issuing the challenge; although duels (or rather ‘trial by combat’) were banned in Kpreti dozens of generations ago, the tradition lived on in the form of this gesture on the part of the challenging Official.

The defending Official almost never actually _took_ the hilt, and Ulvonn certainly didn’t. She did, however, place her own dagger on the podium as well (another tradition that originated from duelling: responding to the show of confidence by refusing to fight with an unfair advantage).

They looked into each other’s eyes before looking away.

“Presenting Officials, you will now debate the trade agreement with the Xatlapf Province,” Gilizh said. “Official Vendharxa, you may speak first.”

“My gratitude, Presiding Official,” Vendharxa replied as she bowed.

And so it began. Vendharxa listed the populists’ arguments for taking a more balanced trade deal with the Province: that the Xatlapf dynasty had tremendous influence in the Imperial Senate and approaching their province with the kind of fair agreement they were seeking would turn the dynasty into an ally of the Republic; that the Duchess of Xatlapf was more likely to agree to a fair deal than one that favoured the Republic; and that asking for too much might offend the Duchess and cause her to retract her offer altogether.

Then it was Ulvonn’s turn to speak. She argued that the Xatlapf dynasty was known for challenging the Empress and it would be better to have Her friendship than that of her upstart rivals; that the Duchess was the one to offer the Republic a trade deal in the first place rather than the other way around, so the Republic was negotiating from a position of strength and the Duchess was unlikely to reject their demands; and that for the same reason, it was unlikely that the Duchess would be insulted into retracting her offer.

Then came Vendharxa’s response: pointing out that the Xatlapf dynasty was known for _successfully_ challenging the Empress, and seemed to support the Republic while She had made policies that put the Republic’s autonomy at risk; that if they took advantage of negotiating from a position of strength, the Republic would risk alienating others who may make trade offers in the future; and that taking advantage of the Duchess’ generosity was exactly the kind of thing that would insult her - such was the reason why she disowned her own niece and sent her off to a non-Imperial province, after all.

At this point,  Gilizh decided to move the discussion on to the next issue at hand. “The debate on the trade agreement with the Xatlapf Province is concluded for the time being. Officials, you will now debate the tax plan to pay the Imperial tribute. Once again, Official Vendharxa, you may speak first.”

“My gratitude, Presiding Official,” Vendharxa replied as she bowed. Vendharxa turned to face the stands.

“My fellow Officials, I have here a copy of the tax plan that has been proposed,” she said as she brandished a leather-bound scroll. “This plan will, if implemented, raise taxes on artisans, on their craft, and on the imports being received by our glorious Republic. This plan will, if implemented, turn one of our society’s largest castes against us, discourage them from contributing to one of our most fundamental industries - if not _the_ most fundamental industry - and likewise discourage our potential trade partners from offering us their trade.”

The populists Officials in the stands were tilting their heads in agreement.

“My fellow Officials, I ask you a question: _why_ has such a plan been drafted? To pay the tribute the Empress _demands_ of us. To pay the tribute She has _forced_ us to pay if we wish to keep our lands and our freedom! And She is forcing this tribute upon us to pay for a war waged _by_ Her for _Her_ own ends, a war which _we_ wanted no part of!”

The statists had expected to disagree with the traitorous populist, but they found themselves agreeing with her on this point.

“Once again, my fellow Officials, I ask you a question. This time, it is: why should we harm our own people and our own Republic, simply to pay for a war we did not want?”

Vendharxa stepped backwards now, giving Ulvonn the turn to speak.

“’My fellow Official’ makes a compelling case for throwing this tax plan to the drakes,” Ulvonn commented, “but she overlooks the most crucial part of it: this tax plan will _save_ our Republic. She claims that accepting this plan will harm us, but without it how are we to pay the tribute to the Empress? Or shall we simply bare our waists and let the Empress gut us? Not to mention that were we to refuse to pay, we would be shirking our responsibilities: contrary to what ‘my fellow Official’ claims, we most certainly wanted the Hara’et Crusade.”

The statists were once reassured that their position was the correct one.

Ulvonn stepped backwards with a smug smile on her face. As Vendharxa stepped forward, Ulvonn might have noticed that her opponent’s mandibles were unusually stiff, as if she was trying to refrain from smiling herself.

“My gratitude to my opponent for acknowledging that my case is indeed compelling,” Vendharxa began, “but she makes three errors.

“The first error is that she appears to be misinformed on the effects of the plan. I have consulted several bankers and merchants, and the overwhelming consensus is that this plan will _harm_ our economy, not help it: firstly, the tax on imports would mean less imports than exports, and this will create stagnant wealth of such proportions as we have not seen since the Republic was proclaimed; secondly, as I have said, taxing the artisans’ craft will discourage them from it, and even if many would continue to make our ceramics, our garments, our machines, our buildings, and our iron and steel - even then, enough would no longer do so that the industry would lag behind the others. How can our economy prosper when the largest industry of all lags behind the others?

“My opponent makes her second error by implying that this tax plan is our only way to pay the tribute required of us by the Empress. Indeed, it is not the only way: another - a better one, if I may give my own opinion - would be to pay the tribute with the money we stand to gain from our trade deal with the Xatlapf Province; in fact, were we to come to a fair agreement with the Duchess of Xatlapf, we would find ourselves not only with the money we need to prevent tribute, but the ally we need to overturn such a demand.

“The third error my opponent makes is in her assertion that we did not oppose the Hara’et Crusade: we most certainly did. In fact, I believe it was Official Ulvonn herself who called the Crusade ‘a futile war’ and ‘a culling of our militias’ in the year 301 after the Proclamation.”

“I object!” Ulvonn interjected. “How would you support this claim, Official Vendharxa?”

Vendharxa’s mandibles twitched in a smile. She turned to Gilizh again. “Presiding Official, I believe Item Two is a copy of the debate transcript where Official Ulvonn made those comments.”

If a Presenting Official wished to use evidence in a debate, they were obligated to give that evidence to the Presiding Official before the meeting began. Vendharxa had made sure to do so in order to be prepared if - _when_ \- Ulvonn challenged one of her claims. Item One was a collection of the letters to and from the bankers and merchants she had consulted, Item Two was a copy of the transcript of the debate in which Ulvonn spoke out against the Crusade.

Gilizh took Item Two from the hollow compartment in the podium, opened the box and took out the scroll, unrolling it and checking the writing. “Official Vendharxa is correct, “ she announced. Ulvonn’s mandibles widened. She had counted fifteen statists whose expressions suggested they agreed with Vendharxa. That, combined with the twenty-eight populists (counting Vendharxa), would be enough to gain Vendharxa a majority vote. Ulvonn was not going to win this debate… unless she managed to postpone the vote. “Official Ulvonn, do you have anything more to say?”

Vendharxa stepped back and Ulvonn stepped forwards.

“Presiding Official,” Ulvonn began. “Do you not need time to verify this transcript? This debate cannot carry on until we know this transcript is genuine.”

Gilizh tilted her head in agreement. “That is correct, Official Ulvonn. The debate on the tax plan is now postponed by five days,” she concluded. “It will be continued on the twenty-fifth of _Ulvotmena_. The next and final issue for today’s meeting is the budget for maintaining government properties. Official Ulvonn, you may speak first.”

And so the meeting continued. The third and final debate was largely unremarkable: Ulvonn presented arguments for allocating more funds to the government property budget, Vendharxa argued that it would be more important to ensure that the funds already going into the budget were being used for their intended purposes. Once this debate concluded, the Officials voted. Of course, as the tax plan debate had been postponed it was omitted from the vote. As for the other issues, the Office of Finance voted 51 to 33 in favour of a fairer trade deal, and 47 to 37 in favour of increasing the funds for the property budget. The meeting closed with the second recital of the Oath of the Republic.

The next day, Ulvonn paid an impromptu visit to her family’s matriarch, one of the Managers at the Bank of the Republic. Two days later, seven of the fifteen statist Officials who had been in agreement with Vendharxa’s populist arguments during the debate received letters from the Bank informing them that they would have to pay their loans back earlier than they had arranged. The other eight were told by the Bank that the loans that they had applied for had been refused. They all knew about Ulvonn’s family matriarch.

Two days after that, it was the twenty-fifth and the tax plan debate resumed: Gilizh Edhero announced that the transcripts were indeed genuine; however, when the Officials voted the result was 56 to 28 in favour of the tax plan - only the populists voted against it. The fifteen statists who had been in agreement with Vendharxa had fallen in line with the rest of their own faction, and the problems with their loans ended shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this one. It's the first story chapter instead of just worldbuilding.  
> If you're not sure how some of the terms are supposed to be pronounced, you can either check the pronunciation guide in the previous chapter's notes or just ask me about it in the comments. I might do a few more worldbuilding chapters in the future, and if I do one of them will definitely feature a better pronunciation guide.  
> Also, I think now's the time for me to explain the economic system they've got in place at this point - as well as I can. I'm not an economist and have no qualifications to be one, so I'll keep it (overly?)simple: kpretinjie society at this point employs an economic system based on the idea that stagnant wealth is bad. If you have a surplus of wealth, you should find a use for it as soon as you can - buy something, or just make a donation. Not sure how this is going to affect the story yet, but it will.


	4. The Wealth of Vatlonje

On the twenty-sixth of Ulvotmena, in the three hundred and sixteenth year after the Proclamation, a copy of the previous day’s Office of Finance debate transcript was made by the Library of the Republic, the establishment charged with preserving all records, documents, and works of literature. An additional copy was made of the transcript of the debate from five days earlier.

Forty-two days later, on the thirteenth of Varmena, the playwright Naklu Iventsinjie finished his newest work, _The Wealth of Vatlonje_. The play was about the fictitious Vatlonjie dynasty, who claimed descent from the likewise fictitious city of Vatlo (the name was probably inspired by the Pfatslonn dynasty, made infamous by a corrupt Head Priest from that family). The plot revolved around the feud between the family’s matriarch and her heir, and their attempts to gain more power and influence than the other – both inside the family and out.

But the play was not fated to be known for its plot. No, what made it famous was the political subtext: the play showed priests buying their way into the upper ranks of the priesthood and using intimidation to subjugate the cult religions, bankers hoarding money and caring not for the effects their actions would have on the economy (“the wealth may lie idle and stagnant, but I am old and soon shall do the same; why then should I decline luxury just so those who care less for wealth than I do may avoid poverty?” is a line from the play), and a group of Officials intimidated into voting for an unfair tax plan by the Presenting Official supporting the plan, and the matriarch of the Presenting Official’s family.

Especially notable was the fact that all of the corrupt figures in the play met tragic ends, and the Vatlonje family was destroyed by its own greed and pettiness, its wealth ultimately amounting to nothing.

It took two days for the statists to start demanding that the play be banned, the scripts be burnt, and the writer imprisoned and banned from ever writing literature again. The Priesthood went one further by trying to get the death penalty reinstated for ‘treasonous and heretical thoughts’, even sending an official letter to the First Court demanding this.

The First Court responded with a short letter that read as follows:

“We knew you hypocritical idol-worshippers were out of your minds before, but this is actually a surprise. You should be proud of that achievement, as it’s the closest you shall come to being able to dictate which acts warrant execution and which do not.’

Meanwhile, the Office of the Arts announced that they would hold a vote on whether the play should be banned or not. Presenting Officials from both factions were chosen and given twelve days to prepare.

The Presenting Official for the populists, who mostly believed in freedom of expression and included some members who went so far as to demand the abolition of censorship, was Risang Njo‘exl. Her first action was to visit the playwright himself.

***

The employees of the government lived in the centre of the city, within the domed _ikrashu_ that surrounded the House of the Republic. The majority of the city’s population actually lived in the flat-roofed _sene’u_ , single-storey houses of varying heights which overlapped with each other and had only major roads separating them. Finally, there was the city wall, where the militia lived.

Naklu Iventsinjie lived in a modest sene’u: his home had only two rooms – a nestroom and a hearthroom. The presence of the hearthroom meant that the ceiling had three openings rather than two. A door and a window were joined by a chimney through which the smoke from the fireplace could escape.

Risang walked across the rooftops, crossing the occasional gaps using the ladders placed between roofs of similar heights to act as bridges. She’d found out the playwright’s address from his mentor at the Academy. Fourteen casts from the town square, travelling down the market road. The mentor had told her what the house looked like as well, so Risang could easily spot it.

There was a garden on the rooftop, and a kodhvranne working at the thanesroot patch. Risang stopped at the raised edge of the roof.

“Are you Naklu Iventsinjie?” she asked.

The kodhvranne turned and laughed. “Naklu never tends the garden. He’s always focused on his plays.” He had quills that curled at the tips and two lines of dark spots down the left side of his neck. His scales were brown and his eyes were amber.

“But you know him, don’t you?” she asked. She’d done her research, so she was already sure she knew who this kodhvranne was.

“I’m his husband,” the kodhvranne explained. “My name’s Vita Hezhlant. And you are?”

“I’m Risang Njo’exl. I’m from the Office of the Arts.” Seeing Vita tense, she clarified that she was a populist, then added “I wanted to talk to your husband about his play.”

“He’s in the hearthroom,” Vita said as he lifted the door open by the metal ring on it. “Come on in.”

Risang obliged and Vita followed her. The hearthroom was simple, with a single table in the corner and two chairs. On the floor by the nestroom wall were two spoons and two forks in two bowls on top of two plates. At daymeal, they might have been on the table in the corner, but right now that table was covered in parchment. A khodvranne – Naklu, obviously - with his back to Risang and Vita was scratching at the parchment with his quill.

“Naklu,” Vita said, “this is Official Njo’exl. She’s a populist from the Office of the Arts.”

Naklu got up and turned around. The playwright was shorter than his husband and had green scales and blue eyes. He had shaky zigzag stripes down the sides of his neck, and quills that were forked at the tips.

“Oh!” he said. “Well, I always have time for admirers of my work. What did you think of my latest work?”

“That’s actually what I’m here to talk to you about. I need you to tell me everything I can use to defend your play in the Office of the Arts?”

Naklu was shocked. “Defend it? Why would you need to do that?”

Did he not realise? “It’s a controversial play which offended several powerful people who have influence in the government. As a result, the statist want it banned and _you_ imprisoned.”

“Well this is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“He gets like this whenever he finishes a play,” Vita explained. “The city could be burning and he wouldn’t notice unless our own house caught fire.”

“I have so many ideas for future plays, I – that can wait,” Naklu interrupted himself. “What kind of thing do you need, Official Njo’exl?”

“The only way the statists can prosecute you or your play is if they can prove it’s based on real people. Is it?”

Naklu hesitated. “Yes. It is.” He searched through the scrolls on the table for a while before finding a specific pair and handing it to Risang. “I found this at the Academy a little over a month ago. Debate transcripts, from the Office of Finances, on the twentieth and twenty-fifth of Ulvotmena.”

Risang read the transcripts. “That’s where you got the idea for the tax plan?”

“Not just that,” Naklu admitted. “The way those Officials changed their minds, it’s almost like they were pressured by Ulvonn somehow. When I did some research, I found out that they’d had problems with the Bank of the Republic between the two debates. Ulvonn’s matriarch works at the Bank.”

“That’s a serious accusation,” Risang warned. “It’s probably true, but you shouldn’t let any statists know you think that.”

“Thank you for that advice,” Naklu said. “Is there anything else you need?”

“When the statists’ Presenting Official, whoever she’ll be, comes to visit, show her the same transcripts you showed me. She’ll use them as evidence against you, but we’ll still have a much better chance of winning than if you refuse to co-operate,” Risang replied. “Oh, and one more thing… if I win this, could you name a character in your next play after me?”

Naklu smiled. “I would gladly do that.”

***

The day of the debate was the twenty-eighth of Varmena. The statist Presenting Official – Tilje Xuzamtr – used the Office of Finances debate transcripts to argue that Naklu had based his play on real events, and was therefore guilty of libel and should be punished accordingly – having his status as a bard and playwright revoked, being expelled from the Academy, and finally being imprisoned for defamation.

Risang knew exactly why Tilje demanded that this should be Naklu’s punishment: Risang had vocally opposed imprisonment for defamation, and the Office of the Arts interfering in the Academy’s affairs, for years; Tilje must have hoped that this would get a rise out of her opponent.

Risang admitted to herself that such a move was an impressive display of improvisation.

Her counter argument was that Naklu Iventsinjie can only be guilty of libel if his play was based on reality but the claims it made were false: this put the statists in the difficult position of having to either drop their charges against Naklu or risk an investigation into their own members.

This brought about a stalemate that would be resolved on the tenth of Ngilmena.

***

Vendharxa Khalsatfir was waiting outside her ikrash when Ulvonn Vinsarl arrived.

“ _You_ did this, didn’t you?” Ulvonn snarled. “You were the one who gave that populist _bard_ the debate transcripts.”

“I was,” Vendharxa said calmly. “I thought people should know the truth, so I left the transcripts at the Academy. I _knew_ somebody would know what to do with them.”

“Well, you failed. I’ll make sure that the Office of the Arts votes correctly.”

“And how will you do that? The same way you made sure the statist tax plan would go ahead?”

“What are you implying?”

“Did you have your family’s matriarch pressure the statists into voting _your_ way?”

“Yes. But that’s not something you can prove.”

“Maybe not, but I don’t have to. You could have denied what you did, but you didn’t. You _do_ have a sense of honour, after all. So what will you say when the First Court starts an investigation into those charges? You _know_ that this is play’s fate will end up in their hands sooner or later… _if_ your fellow statists keep trying to prove that it’s libellous.”

***

“So, playwrights are in the Society of the Quill now?” Vendharxa asked.

“They let us join about three years after you left. It was mostly _my_ doing – I impressed them with my skill in rhetoric,” Naklu said proudly.

“I wasn’t sure whose hands the transcripts would end up in,” Vendharxa admitted. “But this is one of the best possible outcomes, and I didn’t even _expect_ it. Congratulations, you’ve actually surprised me.”

“So you’ll help me save my play?”

“I’ve already done something better,” Vendharxa said. “You had the right idea, but putting that play on in theatres? Most of the people who go to those are the very people your play criticises. There are places where you’ll find an audience _far_ more willing to listen to you, places no playwright would let their play be shown in… unless the play was banned.”

“Are you saying that you think I should let the Office of Arts ban my play because then I’ll have an excuse to show it at taverns and brothels?” Naklu questioned. “And that doing so will make it vastly more popular than it is now?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

***

“You have to change your charges against that play,” Ulvonn said. “Don’t call it libellous, just say it encourages dissent against politicians.”

“This city is a republic, we can’t _force_ people to obey us!” Tilje protested.

“No, that’s the First Court’s job,” Ulvonn agreed. “But you can still censor a play on the grounds of it being seditious. Just drop the libel charge.”

“Because _you_ don’t want the libel investigation to go ahead,” Tilje realised. “I _thought_ that the play and the transcripts it was based on made it seem like you did something you shouldn’t have, but I never thought you would actually _do_ something like that.”

“And why _not_? It’s for the greater good. If I hadn’t done what I did, the tax plan would have been stopped before it was even implemented, and do you know what would have happened next? If I hadn’t done what I did, the city would be under Imperial occupation by now!” Ulvonn snarled. “I had the _courage_ to sacrifice my ethics for my city. I _hoped_ you would have the courage to do the same.”

***

On the tenth of Ngilmena, the Office of the Arts voted on whether to censor the play or not. With Tilje Xuzamtr’s new arguments, the vote fell in the statists’ favour. Of course, they could no longer convict the playwright himself, but _The Wealth of Vatlonje_ was still banned and that was enough of a victory for them.

What they did not realise – what Naklu himself had not realised until Vendharxa had informed him of it – was that this was a success for the play, not a defeat. Now that the play was banned, it couldn’t be shown in a legitimate theatre, which left drinking houses and other ‘disreputable’ establishments – and those were _far_ more popular among the public.

In banning the play, they had given the playwright the perfect excuse to show his work somewhere with a far wider reach than he would have otherwise gotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -u makes words plural in their language, just as -s does in English.
> 
> Kodhvranne and zhuvranne are two of the genders in Kpreti's society - not exactly male and female, more like male-aligned and female-aligned, and gender is seen as mostly separate from sex. Also, there are three other genders - agender, bigender (just male and female, though), and a 'fifth gender' that encompasses most non-binary genders. These three are called lumvranne, kodhzhuvranne and xeshvranne respectively.


	5. A Thesis on the Economy

The Office of Finances may have _passed_ the statists’ tax plan on the twenty-fifth of Ulvotmena, but it took them more than one whole mena to finalise it and put it into action. The tax plan was put into action on the fifth of Ngilmena, the beginning of the new tax month (at the time, citizens of Kpreti were expected to pay their taxes on the fourth day of each month). The same day, the Office of Finances distributed notices explaining the new tax plan to the merchants and artisans who would be most affected, and to the market stall owners.

At the time, the marketplace was where most citizens of Kpreti would find out about current events: either they would read the notices, or they would be told of the events by the stall owners. If they knew of a significant event or rumour, they would inform the stall owner, who would then distribute the information. Other cities had criers, who lived in towers and announced the news from the tops of those towers at noon, but this idea was resented by Kpreti as an Imperial custom – this view was not without merit, since the criers usually began and ended their announcements by praising the Empress.

The Office of Finances also sent copies of the tax plan to the Library of the Republic, where people would be able to read the tax plan if they wished for a better understanding of what it entailed – the notices only explained the parts of the tax plan that affected the recipient, and the reasons for them. Making the full plan available was considered by some statists to be a mistake, but most Officials, regardless of faction, believed that the public should be able to educate themselves on the policies of the Republic.

One of the first groups of people to take advantage of this were the academics. After all, what better way to advance within the Academy than by writing a critique of the government’s policies? That is how it came to be that Nihlyts Ti’enar, a lumvranne student of trade, business, and philosophy, published a work called _A Thesis on the Economy_.

Most academics simply described the tax plan and its implications, before giving their own opinion on them. Nihlyts Ti’enar was more subtle: they did not actually make any reference to the plan itself, and did not focus on its policies; instead Nihlyts was inspired by the tax plan and the way it just seemed _wrong_ , economically speaking, to take upon the ambitious task of condensing all economic ideas in the Republic into a single theory or set of theories. That was _A Thesis on the Economy_ , which summarised the economy using six ideas.

  1. One cannot obtain valuable goods and services without trade and the circulation of wealth.
  2. Trade and the circulation of wealth helps the economy.
  3. Stagnant wealth is harmful to the economy.
  4. If a group or an individual wishes to save money, they should first define how much money they are saving and for what purpose, and use it as soon as they are able.
  5. If two or more connected industries are out of balance, this will unbalance the trade and circulation of wealth between the two.
  6. Therefore, connected industries should be kept in equilibrium with each other.



These ideas were commonplace before Nihlyts Ti’enar came along, but they did something that nobody before them had done: taken these ideas and connected them to each other, justifying each one expertly. Each idea was the central theme of a chapter of the thesis, with a final chapter debunking other ideas, which Nihlyts rejected. _A Thesis on the Economy_ quickly became a huge influence on economic thought, to the point that eventually the ideas within it came to be known as the Six Postulates of Ti’enar, and the theory based on them _Ti’enarklos_.

But its publication had another repercussion much sooner. To explain that repercussion, we must first explain how and why the Office of Academia responded to the academics criticising the tax plan.

With the slew of criticisms of the statist tax plan, the Office of Finance grew worried about the public reaction they might inspire. So Ulvonn Vinsarl decided to take matters into her own hands, and arranged a meeting between herself, her family matriarch – Serhang Vinsarl – and a prominent statist Official within the Office of Academia, Vetr Etlarsondh, on the fifteenth of Ngilmena. The meeting took place in Serhang’s office at the Bank of the Republic, of course.

***

As a Manager of the Bank, Serhang’s office was very spacious. The walls were marble arches that met at the highest point, making a shell-like shape. Statues, sculptures, and paintings lines those walls. In the centre of the empty space was a long, dark table. Serhang sat at the head of the table, wearing cotton clothing and bronze jewellery to display her wealth to her visitors.

Being in a position of power, she was the first to speak. “Hello Ulvonn, Official Etlarsondh. You may sit.”

Both visitors sat down at the table. Serhang’s chair was slightly higher than theirs, so that they would have to look up at her.

“Ulvonn, have you told Official Etlarsondh what this meeting is about?”

“No, Serhang, I have not,” Ulvonn replied.

“Good,” Serhang said. She turned to Vetr. “As I’m sure you know, it is in the Republic’s best interests that the statist tax plan is accepted as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Matriarch Vinsarl,” Vetr replied, looking the banker in the eyes.

Serhang smiled. She always appreciated proper etiquette. “Then I’m certain you can guess that neither I nor Ulvonn wish to see such libel against the plan continued by these academics.”

“Of course, Matriarch Vinsarl.”

“Then I expect you to see to it that the Office of Academia shuts these libellers down. Incidentally, have you thought about what you would do if you received a large sum of wealth from an anonymous benefactor? I think you should.”

***

On the seventeenth of Ngilmena, the statists in the Office of Academia submitted a proposition to have academic critiques of the tax plan censored pending Office approval. The move was met with fierce opposition from most populists, as well as those statists who opposed censorship, but it was accepted and added to the agenda for the twenty-second of Ngilmena debate.

The proposition’s opponents found that they lacked the numbers to win a vote, unless they could sway the other side. Unfortunately, the pro-censorship Officials were known to be obstinate.

It was Xestlav Nuk who realized there was a way to sway those Officials: _A Thesis on the Economy_ was already a popular document among even them, as they had publicly hailed the author as a future pillar of philosophy. If it could be shown that the thesis’s ideas would mean the tax plan was harmful to the economy, then the Officials would have to either vote against censorship or contradict themselves and look like fools.

***

“Fellow Officials,” Xestlav said, “my opponent has tried to convince you that these academics are trying to discredit this tax plan to sabotage our Republic for the benefit of the Empire. Apparently she forgets that no academic would love the Empire after the Empress had fifteen philosophers beheaded for daring to criticise Her rule. My opponent also seems to find it impossible that such a tax plan could be harmful to our Republic, but it may be that she is wrong.

“The tax plan raises taxes on our two largest industries: on artisans and on merchants. And I believe it was Nihlyts Ti’enar who recently postulated in his work, _A Thesis on the Economy_ , that connected industries must stay in equilibrium and if they were to come out of equilibrium, it would be harmful to the economy.

“Well, which industries are connected to the two most affected by this tax plan? The marketplace is directly connected to both. Cooks, tailors, and blacksmiths get some of their finest resources from merchants, do they not? And what of the masons, who need artisans and merchants alike? If our two greatest industries fall out of equilibrium with all these others, will prices not rise? Who will house the poor if the masons cannot? Will food, clothing, and metal become a luxury? How much will it then cost to provide those things for the militia which defends our walls?

“And with this tax plan, how can we keep the industries in equilibrium other than by taxing the smaller industries more than they can afford? How could we defend such an action?

“I am not attempting to invalidate the tax plan. No, all I am trying to do is show to you that these academics’ critiques have merit, and so we should _treat_ them as such. Not baseless libel!”

***

In the face of this reality, as conveyed by Xestlav’s speech, many of the pro-censorship Officials did something unexpected and voted _against_ censorships of critiques of the government. Ultimately, the proposition was struck down.

The attempt at censorship was over, but it continued to have repercussions in the future: between this, and the Office of the Arts banning a politically-charged play, the statists had indicated quite clearly that they were in favour not only of an increasingly unpopular tax plan, but also of the equally unpopular policy of silencing their critics. The populists, on the other hand, were now starting to seem heroic, like moral champions defending what was right.


	6. The Guilds' Union Protests

Senjisk Nak was an artisan – more specifically, they were a vintner.

As such, they owned a brewery: it was near the marketplace, where they could purchase thanesroot leaves, barrels, and water from the wells. The brewery was different from a typical sene’ in a few ways: whereas a sene’ had only one floor, occasionally with an underground pantry below the hearthroom, the brewery had two floors, one for the hearthroom and nestroom and one below that where the actual brewing took place; the brewery also had a door that opened directly onto the market street, as this was an easier way of getting the barrels out of the building than carrying them up the ladders.

Kpreti’s wine trade wasn’t one of its biggest industries – textiles and masonry were more important – but the Priesthood needed the wine for their ceremonies, and drinking houses sometimes served wine alongside mead (of course, drinking houses were illegal – but selling wine _to_ them wasn’t. The law only said that it was a crime to _drink_ alcohol if one wasn’t a priest, or to own a drinking house, and Senjisk did neither). Senjisk made a reasonable profit, and spent it rather quickly, leaving them with just enough to pay the tax and have some left over for emergencies. (Idle wealth, yes – but it wasn’t even a copper clipping a mena. How much of an impact could it have?)

That is, enough to pay the _old_ tax. They didn’t know how much higher the new tax would be, so they bought the cheaper, lower quality, barrels and didn’t buy any bone chips for the past mena. Just in case.

The tax collectors knocked on the brewery door. Senjisk let them in.

There were two of them. They had Office of Finance credentials – they showed him the stamped parchment when he opened the door – but they didn’t look like previous tax collectors. These ones were dressed like the militia, wearing silver chainmail and with _rathesh_ knives at their belts. Were they worried about being attacked? The main difference between them and the militia was that their faces were exposed, not covered by helmets.

As usual, the tax collectors asked Senjisk about his income, and Senjisk told them the profit the vintner had made during the past _mena_.

Then they asked Senjisk about their expenses, and Senjisk explained how much of their income they’d spent on marrowcakes and meat; on wooden boards to write on; on water from the wells; on thanesroot leaves to make into wine; and on barrels to make wine _in_.

Once the tax collectors had the information they needed, they told him the amount of tax he needed to pay.

“But… that’s far too high!” Senjisk protested. “If I pay you that much, I won’t be able to buy thanesroot for half the next mena!”

“It’s the law,” one of the tax collectors said. “If you have a problem with it, go to your Guild.”

Senjisk paid the tax, but they knew they couldn’t afford to pay a tax this high. At that moment, they decided to take the collector’s advice and go to the Vintner’s Guild.

***

Senjisk wasn’t the only artisan or merchant going to their Guild to complain about the tax plan. Merchants were forced to raise prices to pay the higher tariffs, which cost them customers, while artisans had to buy lower quality supplies. The artisans were the hardest hit, though, because so many of them got much of their materials from the merchants now being forced to charge more for their goods.

Soon enough, there was uproar. The Guilds’ Union – founded only 21 years earlier as a forum for different Guilds to co-operate or to resolve their differences – announced that they would be protesting the Office of Finance’s tax plan.

This was unprecedented, but not impossible: the Union was established to protect the rights of the Guilds and _did_ have the legal right to protest policies that were seen as harmful to these interests. Now that they had chosen to _use_ these rights, the dispute would either be settled in a negotiation or – if it lasted longer than a single mena – the First Court would intervene.

Neither side wanted the latter to happen: Ulvonn was much happier with the First Court staying out of the Office of Finance’s business, considering the tactics she’d used to get the tax plan passed in the first place; while the Guilds’ Union was worried that the First Court would have a statist bias. The result was that each side tried to out-bluff the other.

***

The negotiations were tense.

“We will not retract the tax plan,” Official Ulvonn reiterated. “Catering to the whims of upstart artisans is not worth surrendering the independence and autonomy of our city to the Empire.”

“Perhaps not when you phrase it like that,” Thentlas Lunne, the leader of the Guilds’ Union, replied. “How about this as an alternative: protecting the livelihood of hard working individuals and finding another way to pay the tribute.”

“This is the only way that is viable,” Ulvonn insisted, “and despite what some academics may claim, our economy can easily survive this.”

“Well, we cannot afford to pay the tax and maintain our businesses. And the Guilds only have so much money to contribute.”

“Then apply to the Grand Treasury for a loan,” Ulvonn said, “and stop interfering with the government’s work.”

“And what then? How will we pay the loan back, and how do know we’ll even receive it in the first place? The only way for us to be sure would be for the Guilds to work _for_ the Treasury without pay, and that is against our charter.”

“The charter can be changed,” Ulvonn said. “And if the Guilds’ Union does not accept this tax plan, I am sure they would want to know that their leader enjoys visiting brothels and drinking houses.”

Thentlas’ quills bristled, but eventually she sighed. “Then, on behalf of the Guilds’ Union, I accept these terms.”

***

Vendharxa Khalsatfir heard about the end of the negotiations within two days. Understandably, she wasn’t happy and decided to confront the Union Leader about it.

“I was under the impression that as the leader of the Guilds’ Union, you were supposed to act in the best interests of the artisans,” she told Thentlas in the Union Leader’s ikrash. “As we discussed.”

“It doesn’t matter what we discussed,” Thentlas said, “because this tax plan _is_ in the best interest of the artisans.”

“That’s a lie, and you know it. There are better ways to pay the tribute.” Vendharxa paused as she realized something. “But Ulvonn Vinsarl has some sort of power over you. What secret do you have that she’s knows about?”

“I’d rather not have any more people knowing where I spend my leisure time,” Thentlas told her.

“Ah. Well, they’re going to either way,” Vendharxa said, “because whether by intimidation, bribery, or extortion, I will not allow citizens to be exploited for a tribute we shouldn’t even _be_ paying.”

“Then do not allow them to be,” Thentlas told her. “I understand fully.”

***

It was uncommon for an Official to speak out against the government’s policies in a public forum. Risky also, as while it was not grounds for dismissal, such incidents could be used to back up claims of insubordination and the like.

Uncommon and risky, but not unheard of.

Gilizh Edhero herself had done so when the Hara’et Crusade was first declared, and the Office of Finance had voted to fund the militias that would be leaving the city’s walls to fight an imperial war in a distant land. There had been two other instances of an Official doing something like this, and in those cases it had also been in opposition to the Empire.

So Vendharxa was following tradition when she gave a speech in the middle of the market.

“The statists have pushed a tax plan on our Republic which, as respected academics have demonstrated, is likely to destroy our economy just to satisfy the Empress – and what has She _ever_ done for us? Her good graces only extend to what she is willing to _not_ do _to_ us!

“And has this tax plan been passed fairly? Perhaps, but is it not suspicious that the Office of the Arts wanted a playwright imprisoned for libel when he wrote a play in which an Official _bought_ the vote to pass an unfair tax plan – and changed the charge to sedition right before the First Court could investigate the _first_ charge! Perhaps it was not as false as the statists claim!

“Do not let them tell you that they believe this plan will be good for our city, for if it had they would have debated academics on their merits and not attempted to censor every thesis that criticised the tax plan!

“And let us not forget that the Guilds’ Union refused to accept this plan until the Union Leader met with the statist who defended this plan to negotiate – I will _not_ incriminate Thentlas Lunne, but I _shall_ say that she has her secret, and my fellow Official knows at least one.

“This tax plan _cannot_ be allowed to take action – and indeed, it _will_ not if you, the people, demonstrate your contempt for it – for no Official would risk losing so many votes.”

***

And so, Thentlas Lunne was suspended from her duties as Union Leader. Her replacement was chosen by lottery from a group of volunteers – and it was Senjisk Nak, a khodzhuvranne vintner who was a staunch opponent of overtaxation of artisans, being a victim of it themselves.

As their first act as the Union Leader, Senjisk Nak wrote a letter to the Office of Finance, outlining their demands for the Guilds’ Union, first of which was that the statist tax plan be dropped. In their letter, Senjisk insisted that while the other demands, such as more influence for the Guilds in government, could be negotiated upon, this was a must – and that if this demand was not accepted, the Guilds’ Union would incite the artisans to refuse to work until they got what they wanted.

The statists were not deterred – in fact, if anything they were made bolder by the demand and amused by the threat. Ulvonn Vinsarl herself read the new Union Leader’s letter to the Office of Finance in front of her fellow Officials, and laughed at the idea of workers refusing to work. “If the workers refuse to work,” she said, “then they are not workers – and we have no obligation to them.” Vendharxa pointed out that this remark suggested that only citizens who worked had value and that they should “settle on contentious issue at a time,” and preferably stick to those which the Office of Finance had any real say in.

The standoff continued.

And so, on the fifteenth of Ruzhmena, artisans painted red crosses on the doors of their establishments and stood outside, demonstrating their contempt for the statists’ tax plan with their refusal to work. This was the first documented workers’ strike in the history of Kpreti – and it would not be ignored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the final chapter I'm posting for this story. Why? Because as I'm writing this, the hit counter for this fic is only at 19. 19 hits since December.
> 
> Don't worry, though - this isn't over. I'm going to be redoing this in a way which will - hopefully - be more interesting to readers.


	7. Link to the new version

Hey everyone.

Just in case you're reading this, I've just posted the new version of this story. [Here's the link.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13778511/chapters/31671321)


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